Aston Villa: Star flop making £150,000 a week can now change the game at Villa Park

Aston Villa: £150k-a-week star flop can now be ‘game-changer’ at Villa Park

Unai Emery may be disappointed with the early signs of his summer signing

Journalist Ben Jacobs believes that Aston Villa’s summer signing has not lived up to expectations and the midfielder needs to prove himself in order to earn more playing time under Unai Emery.

He has shown flashes of his potential, but also has been error-prone and has given the ball away too often, which is not ideal for Villa’s style of play.

Despite his struggles, Villa still believe the midfielder has the potential to be a great signing, with his ability to score goals and change games, but could consider selling him to make a profit.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery enjoyed a fruitful summer window in terms of incomings, though journalist Ben Jacobs has name-dropped one star who still needs to ‘prove a point’.

The Spaniard’s outfit shocked Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday by putting six past them in a 6-1 victory, inspired by an Ollie Watkins hat-trick.

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The Villans were on fire as they squared up against a well-rehearsed Brighton side which, in turn, has allowed them to leapfrog the Seagulls in the Premier League table. Now sitting in fifth spot, Emery will be pleased with how they have fared domestically since the 2023/24 campaign got underway.

On a European front, however, the former Villarreal boss will be keen to see heavy improvements given they lost 3-2 in their Europa Conference League curtain-raiser to Legia Warsaw, while relegation candidates Everton knocked them out of the Carabao Cup. As such, Emery will be reliant on some of his summer incomings to hold them in good stead of tasting European silverware this term, while making them mark on the English topflight.

Having spent just north of £80m over the summer months, the majority of their signings have paid off, most notably Moussa Diaby, who has caught the eye in his opening Villa outings. Youri Tielemans, formerly of Leicester City, however, has failed to live up to his initial expectations.

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Roma all interested in the Belgian’s services, Villa agreed a free transfer deal to see him leave the King Power Stadium for Villa Park, per BBC Sport, though they may come to regret winning his signature given Jacobs has recently told GIVEMESPORT the Villa Park faithful are now ‘seeing the worst’.

Tielemans is a ‘great signing’ for Aston Villa despite early struggles – Ben Jacobs

On the former Monaco midfielder, journalist Jacobs has suggested he’ll need to ‘prove a point’ in a bid to up his minutes under Emery’s stewardship. He did, however, highlight that Tielemans could have a contrasting effect dependent on how he is performing. The respected reporter insisted that it’s now in Tielemans’ hands to show Emery why he’s deserving of a first team spot at Villa. Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, he said…

“Hopefully it’s one of those situations where Youri Tielemans wakes up the day after the game, looks at the footage, looks in the mirror almost and realises that kind of performance is not why Aston Villa signed him and use his training under less pressure to prove a point and fight his way back into the fold because Aston Villa have got a great signing there.

“They’ve got a goalscoring midfielder, they’ve got someone that can change games, they’ve got someone that can score a goal out of nothing. And at his best, they’ve got a leader as well. But like I said, at his worst, they’ve got a player that can be error-prone and needlessly give the ball away and the way that Villa play, they can’t afford that in the centre of the park. So, this is really about Tielemans showing his best now, which unfortunately hasn’t been showcased yet during his time at Aston Villa.”

Read More: Aston Villa: £23m Star Now ‘Showing More Than Coutinho’ Did At Villa Park

Youri Tielemans ‘unhappy’ with lack of minutes under Unai Emery

Earlier in September, Tielemans revealed – while on international duty – that he was less than impressed with his constrained domestic minutes. Despite featuring 11 times for his new employers since his summer switch, he has played just 415 minutes, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 6.11 in that sequence. He said (via MailOnline)…

“The situation is not pleasant. I told the manager [Emery] that I came to Villa to play. He understands me, but at the moment, he prefers to play with his two midfielders from last season.

“He told me that soon the matches will come one after the other and I will have more playing time. I know this answer doesn’t help me move forward, but what should I do? Whenever I have an opportunity, I want to take it. So far, I have started once, in the Conference League.”

After establishing himself as a regular at his previous club Leicester, Tielemans is – understandably – aggrieved about his lack of minutes in Villa threads. Only time will tell whether Tielemans can up his action and be a vital cog in Emery’s well-oiled Midlands machine, though given they didn’t have to fork out a penny for his signature, they will be more than happy to wait it out to garner the best out of the Belgium international. Saying that, his hefty £150k-a-week wage packet is the highest in the squad.

Valued at £22m by Transfermarkt, Emery and his entourage could look to make a quick profit should his ongoing performances be deemed not up to scratch. With a plethora of clubs all gunning for his services in the summer just gone, there’s no doubt that Tielemans would be subject to a long list of potential suitors if his employers elect to put him on their offload list.